Areas › Your body › Touch and bodywork
There is a real difference between a practice you add to your treatment and one you use in place of it. Massage, breathing, acupressure and the rest belong in the first group.
Nobody minds you tapping, stretching or seeing an acupuncturist. What matters is that none of it quietly takes the place of the medication, the therapy or the appointment you need. If a practitioner tells you to stop your treatment, that is the moment to be careful rather than the moment to be brave. Keeping both is allowed and usually sensible.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Ibrahim lists among God's dealings with him 'He who cures me when I am ill' (Quran 26:80). Cure is attributed to God while the ordinary means of getting well are nowhere forbidden.
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A Cochrane review of non invasive approaches to wellbeing and quality of life in lung cancer concluded there was not enough evidence to recommend most complementary methods. That is not the same as saying they do nothing, but it does mean they have not earned the right to replace anything. Sitting alongside conventional care is what the evidence currently supports.
Rueda JR, Solà I, Pascual A, Subirana Casacuberta M. (2011). Non-invasive interventions for improving well-being and quality of life in patients with lung cancer.. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Adding something helpful costs you very little, while swapping out something that was working can cost a great deal.
When not to
Never stop prescribed medication or treatment because of a complementary practice without speaking to the person who prescribed it.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
The first twinge often brings back every previous episode with it, and that dread is not separate from the pain. Fear tightens the muscles and turns the volume up.
Talking is not the only door in. Exercise, massage, acupressure, yoga, tai chi and the rest go at the body first and let the mind follow, which is the opposite direction from most therapy.
The study most often quoted for magnetic stimulation in attention difficulties had eight people in it, and half of those on the dummy treatment improved too.